


Sleep

by askscienceboyfriends



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Based on Song Lyrics, Ficlet, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares, Prompt Fill, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:29:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1965552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askscienceboyfriends/pseuds/askscienceboyfriends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce is having a nightmare.  Tony tries to help him without waking him up.</p>
<p>Written for this prompt: "I was wondering if you can write a drabble based off a song called Sleep by Poets of the Fall. The lyrics are so Bruce/Tony it's not even funny."</p>
<p>Song lyrics here: http://www.poetsofthefall.com/lyrics/sleep/</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleep

Tony looked over the e-reader he was holding and down at Bruce.  He was having nightmares again, Tony could tell.  The doctor’s eyebrows crunched together in his sleep as his head jerked on his pillow.  Tony frowned at set down his tablet and looked at the clock.  Just about seven.  Tony didn’t sleep much himself, but he did like to lay in bed with Bruce.  Even if it just meant reading while Bruce slept.  That was okay; that meant he could be there when this happened.

Tony reached over and placed his hand on Bruce’s forehead.  He could feel the accelerated pulse throbbing through his veins.  He didn’t like to wake Bruce up, even when he could tell his dreams were taking a turn for the worst.  Bruce hardly got enough sleep as it was.  Not that Tony was the poster boy for healthy sleeping habits.  Instead, he had developed a system for subliminally talking Bruce down from the nightmare.  That way Bruce got to continue sleeping, and he never even seemed to realize that he’d been having bad dreams when he woke the next day.  Tony liked it that way; he knew Bruce would get upset if he thought he was disturbing Tony.

So he began his secret ritual.  He stretched his body along Bruce’s and pulled him slowly into his arms.  He wrapped himself around his sleeping boyfriend and cradled Bruce’s head against his chest.  And as he ran his fingers very gently through Bruce’s hair, he whispered to him.  Different things every night; soothing murmurs, repeating his name, science facts he knew Bruce would like, a song lyric or two. Whatever he felt in the moment.  And after a few moments, Bruce’s body always relaxed against him and stopped shaking.  Tony liked to think that was when the good dreams would take over.  Dreams of the two of them together, or of a breakthrough in the lab, or the feeling he had knowing he finally had somewhere to call home.  But Tony never asked him.  He didn’t want Bruce to know how aware he was of the other man’s sleeping patterns.

Usually when Bruce settled away from the nightmares, Tony would go back to reading.  But not this time.  He didn’t know why, but this time Tony felt like he couldn’t pull himself away from Bruce.  That he needed to be there to see him through the rest of the night.  That somehow, without knowing why, Bruce would feel safe and calm with Tony holding him.  Tony wished he could heal Bruce, but this was the best he could offer.  So he laid his head against the pillow, and after stealing one more glance at Bruce’s face resting against his chest, Tony closed his own eyes.  Only moments later, he joined Bruce in  a peaceful sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt fill on our blog ask-science-boyfriends.tumblr.com


End file.
